12 replies to this topic

[StillEvil]

Model: King Crab KGC-000B
Printer: Zortrax M200
Material: Z-ULTRAT
Prining time: apprx 170 hours
Maual post processing: many hours
Finishing: Cold acetone vapor
Perks: Movable joints

This is my favourite mech and build. Enjoy my first experience in model painting.

[mgto]

Hey very nice!

How much rubbish did you produce in the procedure?

What slicer and settings you used would be interesting too!
cheers

[StillEvil]

Hi.
Zotrax uses its proprietary slicer called Z-Suite. There's very little to change in it as it relies on proprietary printing materials which you choose from the settings menu. Based on it, the slicer automatically choses optimal print settings and works its magic. What's left is a few options to adjust manually, like layer thickness (0.09mm for this model), infill - max for legs, min for torso to make it stable and other minor settings.

Z-ULTRAT is an ABS compond material used for printing which doesn't shrink as opposed to standard ABS. One can't print large parts from ABS, it would definitely fail due to shrinking.

The printer itself is very reliable. I would hate the 55 hour part print to fail at its latest which was the head/torso

Edited by StillEvil, 25 November 2017 - 01:00 AM.

[jjm1]

Awesome

[mgto]

Hey this is interesting.. so this material does stay in shape during printing and afterwards..?!
Have you prepared the model / parts for printing yourself? (I mean the mesh parts like adding joints, filling holes... not the slicer setup)?

[StillEvil]

Z-ULTRAT keeps its shape all the time while Z-ABS changes. I tried to print a few times complex parts from ABS and most of the time they fail due to shrinking. Z-ULTRAT is sort of improved ABS but at an expense costing twice as much ($80 AUD). Apart from being stable, ULTRAT is also harder to brake than normal ABS and prone to same chemical tratment (acetone) as ABS for final polishing.

To answer your question, I'm not as good with 3ds Max to make joints on my own yet so I purchased the model from Gambody but I had to impove sholders (slots for shoulder guns) in 3ds Max to be flush with the body the way they are supposed to be and redo left shoulder to make it blank - cover the weapon slot. Other than that they have the perfect model, ready for printing straight away. Unless they fix sholuders to be properly flush you can ask me for them some day.

[StillEvil]

I uploaded flush sholuders to replace original for those who need them here: http://ge.tt/6HOA2Un2

Not sure how long this link is going to be active though. Keep in mind that new flush shoulders have 2mm less bed for guns in depth so you will need to adjust replaceable guns on your own or simply cut 2mm from the back.

One will also need to cut off protruding plastic pieces on shoulders from the original mech itself to slide my version on top. You'll figure this out, I'm sure...

Edited by StillEvil, 25 November 2017 - 04:15 AM.

[c0d3rPK]

Looks awesome! May we know where did you get the model/stl files? KGC is one of my favourite (and oldest) mech in MWO!

[StillEvil]

c0d3rPK, on 26 November 2017 - 08:37 PM, said:

Looks awesome! May we know where did you get the model/stl files? KGC is one of my favourite (and oldest) mech in MWO!

Hi. Look 2 posts above.

[arcana75]

Wow that's beautiful! I would love to 3D print a whole stable of mechs to put on display... was it difficult to get from the initial print to the final product you have here?

[StillEvil]

arcana75, on 27 November 2017 - 05:09 AM, said:

Wow that's beautiful! I would love to 3D print a whole stable of mechs to put on display... was it difficult to get from the initial print to the final product you have here?

I wouldn't say it's difficult, rather time consuming. As I mentioned, printing itself took substantial amount time. Then you need to remove all the support structure after printing is done, which is monotonous, lengthy and tedious job. Then you need to remove small imperfections. I used OptiVISOR glasses for this. Then, you need to smooth/polish the surface. Techniques are different depending on the material used but I find for ABS it's the fastest because cemical treatment by acetone vapour does not require any manual effort. If you printed from PLA, it will be extremely hard to reach the same smoothness of such complex parts. PLA is not suseptible to acetone or any chemicals, leaving you with sandpaper in your hands and days of excitment There is another option which leaves you with silky smooth surface straight away - if printed on SLA printer. However SLA printers are 3 times more expensive than FDM.

After assembling parts I used black primer spray on the model. Then I spend a couple of days painting details. With off and on work, it took me a couple of months but believe it can take a couple of weeks with full dedication.

Before I purchased my own printer I had idea to outsource printing of this mech. There is a big market for this BTW. Unfortunately when I saw the final price tag of approximately $500 I decided that I'd rather buy my own printer.

FYI. Doing mutiple day straight on printing will emit chemical wastes in the air of your room. You will need a professional air purifier with high grade carbon filter. These are expensive and not sold at general stores, if sold then it's just a gimmick but not a filter. You will also need UPS and fire extinguishing system. I use Elide Fireball by the printer as a self activating fire extinguisher solution.

[arcana75]

StillEvil, on 28 November 2017 - 06:40 PM, said:

I wouldn't say it's difficult, rather time consuming. As I mentioned, printing itself took substantial amount time. Then you need to remove all the support structure after printing is done, which is monotonous, lengthy and tedious job. Then you need to remove small imperfections. I used OptiVISOR glasses for this. Then, you need to smooth/polish the surface. Techniques are different depending on the material used but I find for ABS it's the fastest because cemical treatment by acetone vapour does not require any manual effort. If you printed from PLA, it will be extremely hard to reach the same smoothness of such complex parts. PLA is not suseptible to acetone or any chemicals, leaving you with sandpaper in your hands and days of excitment There is another option which leaves you with silky smooth surface straight away - if printed on SLA printer. However SLA printers are 3 times more expensive than FDM.

After assembling parts I used black primer spray on the model. Then I spend a couple of days painting details. With off and on work, it took me a couple of months but believe it can take a couple of weeks with full dedication.

Before I purchased my own printer I had idea to outsource printing of this mech. There is a big market for this BTW. Unfortunately when I saw the final price tag of approximately $500 I decided that I'd rather buy my own printer.

FYI. Doing mutiple day straight on printing will emit chemical wastes in the air of your room. You will need a professional air purifier with high grade carbon filter. These are expensive and not sold at general stores, if sold then it's just a gimmick but not a filter. You will also need UPS and fire extinguishing system. I use Elide Fireball by the printer as a self activating fire extinguisher solution.

All that is amazing sharing thanks! Half of what you said I didn't understand as I'm a noob to this. I just started modelling, starting with the Bandai Star Wars kits, got a bunch of them cheap, just finished doing up 2 TIEs and 2 X-Wings. I realised there is a secondary market for assembled and painted Bandai Star Wars kits, usually about 5x kit price if done well. Of cuz I did them as a labour of love than a revenue stream.

In your case, I believe you didn't do this as a revenue stream, but that finished product I'm certain there is a secondary market. If you put up that King Crab on eBay, you could easily sell it for $200 maybe.

Still based on your account, it's going to be a big learning curve for me. Thanks for your sharing and insight!

[StillEvil]

You are right. It's not for revenue. Not worth it. Printing costs plus labour costs will make it a four digit $ figure for a plastic "toy" plus I like aesthetics it brings into the room. I shared the pictures to show what kind of things can be created with a 3d printer. If one masters 3ds Max/Maya modelling software, it will be a killing combination.